At a time when most Czechs are anxiously surveying the war in Iraq, when security has been heightened at home because of potential terrorist attacks, the national Security Information Service is looking for an unknown assailant in eastern Moravia, responsible for repeated bomb threats throughout the month of March. Two weeks ago police uncovered the assailant's handiwork: an expertly placed home-made bomb planted under a local railway bridge - confirmation the threat was serious. The anonymous caller then demanded officials place 10 million crowns in separate packages in pre-designated areas in the region by March 24th or face bomb attacks. The deadline has now passed: by Monday the packages of money had still been left untouched for police to quietly retrieve. Now it is a question of what will happen next.
Repeated bomb threats in the eastern region of Olomouc - as if apprehensions over the war in Iraq weren't already enough - local residents are now fearful an attack could take place in their own backyard. Little comfort in the interior minister's words the bomber was not a "political terrorist" - sources say the he may have a possible police or military background - apparently the unknown assailant knows exactly what he is doing. Over the weekend Olomouc's regional governor went against a police information blackout, feeling it was his duty to warn locals about the potential threat. He urged locals to avoid busy public places, including railway stations and supermarkets.
Then, while Monday did not see the bomb threat realised, two anonymous calls, now believed to be unrelated, did make life uncomfortable for residents, to say the least: police were forced to move in at a chemical factory, as well as to evacuate a local military hospital. While no bomb was found, another hospital in the area had to be prepared for every eventuality, with up to two hundred available beds.
Olomouc, photo: CTK
Repeated bomb threats throughout March that ultimately proved false may have led some residents to become apathetic, thinking such calls will prove false each and every time. After all, some say, it is more likely in the Czech Republic to be injured or killed from an explosion from faulty gas pipes in one's home, than by a home-made bomb. Whether anyone should take the situation so lightly is questionable - certainly officials could never be so lax. On Sunday Czech police president Jiri Kolar reminded the public the anonymous assailant is perfectly capable of making good on his threat. That's a sobering thought when one considers police seem no closer to capturing the man at large, at least, not yet.
